Elections to the three municipal corporations in the national capital will be held on 22 April, the Delhi State Election Commission said on Tuesday.

The announcement was made by State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava at a press conference here putting to rest months of speculation on the schedule of the polls, in which the BJP, the Congress and the AAP, are betting big. “The polls to the three municipal corporations of Delhi will be held on April 22 and counting will take place on 25 April,” he said.

BJP is ruling from last 15 years in MCD and people of Delhi are not fully satisfied with the performance of MCD in Delhi. Corruption and Mis-management are the major problem of MCD. Also, anti-incumbency is a major factor for BJP.

Captain Amarinder Singh will be deployed to take on the AAP in its home base in Delhi, after he defeated the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in Punjab, Congress leaders said on Saturday.

The Congress will hold a civic reception for the Punjab chief minister in Delhi. Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu could also canvass along with Delhi party chief Ajay Maken.

“We are planning to rope in Captain Amarinder Singh since there is a substantial Punjabi population in Delhi,” Congress leader incharge of Delhi, PC Chacko, as told to our sources.

The move assumes significance with the AAP participating in the civic polls on all 272 wards with full strength for the first time. The Congress’s successful show against the AAP in Punjab is the primary reason behind the move to deploy Singh.

“Singh is the one who caused the humiliating defeat of the AAP. The planned civic reception is to send this message to the voters of Delhi,” a Congress leader said.

The BJP has a star-studded line up ready. The party appointed on Friday a team of four senior leaders, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, and Sanjeev Balyan, to supervise the municipal elections.

Commenting on the appointments, Sahasrabuddhe said all elections were important for the party and it took them seriously.

The party has roped in the Phogat sisters,wrestlers Geeta and Babita Phogat,who were recently appointed brand ambassadors by South Delhi Municipal Corporation to promote ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign in south Delhi. “With Shikhar Dhawan, we have almost reached an agreement,” the source added.

BJP’s Ramlila Maidan convention for workers,to be held on March 25, will also be addressed by the party president Amit Shah and Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who will give tips to them for better booth level election management.

With the booth workers meeting, the BJP was to formally kick start the campaign for civic polls in the national capital. More than 65,000 party workers, who have been named ‘panchparmeshwar’, were invited to participate.

The erstwhile MCD was trifurcated into North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations in 2012. While NDMC and SDMC have 104 seats each, EDMC has 64.

The total number of electorate for the civic polls stands at 1,32,10,206, which include 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category, the state election commission said.